MOSCOW, July 8: Russia denounced on Monday as “absolutely inadmissible” any military action against Iraq, in a direct warning to the United States.
“The Iraqi problem can only be resolved through political-diplomatic means on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Any other options, especially military, are absolutely inadmissible,” it added.
The New York Times reported on Friday that a top secret US military document outlines a massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
The prospect of US military action was heightened last week after talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq broke down.
The Russian foreign ministry, however, called for a resumption of dialogue which would lead to renewed cooperation by Baghdad with UN inspections in return for an end to UN sanctions imposed in 1990.
US President George W. Bush’s administration, which has labelled Iraq — along with Iran and North Korea — as the world’s “axis of evil,” is demanding the return of arms inspectors barred from Iraq since pulling out in Dec 1998.
Russia, which is owed eight billion dollars by its ally Iraq, has long sought to persuade Baghdad to allow UN weapons inspectors to return to the country in exchange for a total lifting of sanctions.
JORDAN KING: Jordan’s King Abdullah arrived in Moscow on Monday for talks with President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials about the situation in the Middle East.
He was met at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov.
Court officials said in Amman earlier that Abdullah was to meet Putin on Tuesday for a one-day working visit that will focus on “various questions linked to the Middle East, including relaunching the peace process, and Iraq”.
He was accompanied on the trip by Crown Prince Hamza bin Hussein and the head of Jordan’s intelligence services General Saad Khair, the officials said.
Abdullah’s agenda was not immediately confirmed by the Kremlin, which had initially refused to indicate whether the Jordanian monarch was to meet Putin.
Russian sources said the visit was agreed only at the weekend.
Jordan’s ambassador to Moscow, Ahmad al-Mubaydeen, said earlier that Abdullah hoped to see Putin during his stay and that he was due to leave Moscow on Tuesday afternoon.
The trip comes amid reports that the United States is planning a military strike to topple the regime of Iraq, with Jordan possibly used as one of the launching pads.
On Sunday Jordan urged Iraq and the United Nations to pursue their dialogue and rejected the use of force against its neighbour.
“Dialogue is the only means capable of solving the Iraqi question and we hope Iraq and the UN would pursue dialogue to bring an end to the suffering of the brother Iraqi people,” Information Minister Mohammed Adwan said in Amman.—AFP
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